Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-01-01
many cases to the confusion of SCOT

S6LllGoIS WSro CTedleu III was IIle III
tention of Heaven that Eve herself
should become an old maid. And
further, that, according to st. Rom
wald, Eve in the ninety-ninth year
of the world created a religious order
of young women, who were to con-
tinue virgins and to preserve un-
extinguished the fire which had fallen
from Heaven on the sacrifice of Abel.
The latter myth is identical with the
origin of the Vestal Virgins in Rome.
There are numerous mythical ira
ditions of like character, all showing
that old maids were regarded with
honor and respect. Then there came
a period, during the reign ofthe Jews,
in which no record is found of the
existence of any one distinguished
old maid. The state of sisterhood
was also held in disfavor among the
Greeks and Romans of that time. But
after the Christian era there came
wonderful revulsion of feeling, and q
marked increase of unmarried women
of manageable age. According to
the ancient historians the whole sex
seemed to have been inflamed with a
passion for virginity which was most
eagerly fostered by many of the most
distinguished fathers of the Church.
st. chryssostom, st. Augustine, st.
Basil, Gregory and manymore wrote
passionate and eloquent rhapsodies
on celibacy as the most honorable
condition of woman, and, indeed, to
such an excess was this veneration
for the single state carried in the Sec
ond century that some preachers de-
claimed against marriage as the sug-
gestion of the devil. Had the min
istration of the enthusiasts been gen.
orally needed, uncomfortable and
puzzling complications as regards the
the perpetuation of the human
family might have arisen, which,
however, it is unnecessary for the
purpose of this article to seek to I'M
ravel. 1t is hardly surprising to
learn that scandal played havoc with
those too ardent devotees of perpetual
maidenhood, and marriage again be-
came universally recognized as a
divine law.
Coming down to modern days we
find that many of the most illustrious
women have remained spinsters all
the days of their lives.
Elizabeth of England, one of the
most remarkable of latter-day sove-
reigns, and a woman of remarkable
acuteness, courage and political saga
city, was an old maid. So was
Maria Edgeworth, whose literary
work prompted Sir Walter Scott to
begin the Waverly novels; SO was
Caroline Herschel; so was Joanna
Bailie; so was Mary Russell Milford;
so was Jane Ausen, to whom Macau-
ly awards very high place in the
field of fiction; so were Harriet Mar
tineau, Frances Power Cobbe, and
hundreds of others whose works live
after them.
Who will doubt that such women as
Florence Nightingale, Emily Faith.
full and Clara Barton, single women
though they be, have done and are
doing double duty for humanity?
Some of the most eminent women
of every civilized land are found in
the pursuit of science, literature, art
or benevolence, and are welded only
to their chosen calling. The tender.
est ministrations to sick and suffering
strangers in our hospitals and on oul
battle fields come from the hands o.
the sisterhood.
Are they not worthy of all honor:
And because there are weak and
silly, curious and gossiping old maids
just as there are weak and silly
curious and gossiping married wo
men, shall old maids become the
subject Of Anticipated jests? That {
woman's reason is best known to her
self many apply to matrimony az
we'll as to other affairs in life, and i
is a matter into which idle curiosity
has no right to pry. The good there
is in the old maid commands oul
love and respect; for the sorrows
which may have been hers she de
serves our sympathy, and common
justice which is the common right re
quires that we render unto Casa
the things that are Caesars.